Stripped-down Sweeney Todd’ still kills

Could there be a better time than Halloween to reawaken the tale of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”?

Jim Dorman

Could there be a better time than Halloween to reawaken the tale of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”?

“Sweeney Todd,” once a huge and very successful undertaking in the hands of Harold Prince, has been stripped nearly naked by British Director John Doyle. Instead of a 30 member cast and a 27-piece orchestra performing Stephen Sondheim’s music and Hugh Wheeler’s book, we get 10 actors who also provide the musical accompaniment.

And instead of a two-story, rolling set complete with a shoot to dump Todd’s victims, we get a mostly bare stage where black, white and shades of blood red are the dominant colors, and our imagination becomes the most important special effect.

All of the action takes place in what at first looks like a psychiatric ward, but eventually becomes whatever we need it to be as the story unfolds.

There is little on the stage, save a troublesome ladder, a few buckets of blood, Sweeney’s razors, Mrs. Lovett’s baking utensils, and the instruments. But it all works just fine.

Actually, it works quite well.

Doyle redesigned “Sweeney Todd” out of necessity for a small London production that needed to conserve funds. From there it moved on to London’s West End, then Broadway and the national touring company (performing at the Colonial Theater through Nov. 4). He was recognized for his radical reinvention of one of theater’s favorite musicals with the 2006 Tony Award for best direction of a musical.

If you need a refresher, or are just learning about the vengeful shearer, “Sweeney Todd” is the story of a man (formerly known as Benjamin Barker) who returns home to London after spending 15 years in an Australian penal colony. He was sent there on false charges (only described as “foolishness”) by a lustful judge who coveted
Todd’s wife, Lucy, and managed to take charge of Johanna, their only child. Now, seeking revenge against the judge, Todd aligns himself with Mrs. Lovett, a purveyor of meat pies that even she calls “the worst pies in London.” Todd extends his vendetta to anyone who comes in his shop for a shave, and once he has killed them, Mrs. Lovett makes meat pies of them.

Time evaporates as you see the desperation, torment, occasional bliss and comedy demonstrated by these characters and the actors playing them in this mesmerizing version of “Sweeney Todd.” David Hess is likeably disturbed as Todd. He is at his devilish best while decisively slicing the throats of his victims accompanied by the sound of a shrieking steam whistle.

Judy Kaye, who succeeded Patty Lupone in the role of Mrs. Lovett on Broadway, is a pure delight. It’s a good thing that she wasn’t hurt by the previously mentioned ladder as it made an unscheduled descent and appeared to bounce hard off her left shoulder during “No Place Like London,” the show’s second musical number.

Edmund Bagnell was an audience favorite as young Tobias, the strait-jacketed patient at the asylum and the seemingly doomed apprentice at Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop. As a kind of observer, his expressive acting and playing of the violin and clarinet
were important elements in the show’s progression. During the climactic “Not While I’m Around,” he was able to do all three. Keith Butterbaugh as Judge Turpin (also trumpet, orchestra bells and percussion) was slick and selfish. His “Johanna” was both disturbing and plaintive. Benjamin Magnuson (cello and keyboard) and Lauren Molina (cello) were alternately cute, funny, hopeful and innocent as young lovers
Anthony and Johanna.

And their string work was exquisite. Diana Dimarzio (clarinet and keyboard) was captivating as the tortured and despised Beggar Woman. Katrina Yaukey (accordion, keyboard and flute) as Pirelli the blackmailing barber was Todd’s first victim, and the first to dawn a symbolic blood-splashed lab coat. It was an event that would recur time and again as Todd labored toward fulfilling his destructive and thoroughly entertaining quarry.